Becomes One Hundred Stories #26: Goes Into the Sea

Goes Into the Sea

The young man went into the sea.

The young man had been working near the sea, and one evening he finished his work and went to the sea to swim to the distant rocks as he often did after work.

The young man waded into the sea, but when the water was deep enough so he could swim, he continued wading instead. The water was up to his waist then his chest then his shoulders then his neck and head. The young man continued walking along the bottom of the sea.

The bottom of the sea soon turned from sand to mud. The young man walked through the mud and felt the mud squish between his toes. But the young man could not see very much on the bottom of the sea.

The bottom of the sea quickly fell away from the surface of the sea, and soon the young man was in the depths of the sea. But the sun could not reach the depths of the sea so the young man could not see very much as he walked on the bottom of the sea.

The young man walked in darkness through the mud on the bottom of the sea.

The young man walked in darkness through the mud on the bottom of the sea until the sun began to set. When the sun began to set, it began to light the bottom of the sea. The sun soon had dropped completely into the sea, and it filled the sea with light. It filled the sea with light even to the depths of the sea where the young man walked through the mud. Where the young man no longer walked in darkness through the mud in the depths of the sea.

The young man saw many things in the depths of the sea when the sun had filled the sea with light.

The young man saw fish.

The young man saw strange plants.

The young man saw old shipwrecks and other garbage strewn by people throughout the centuries that people had been sailing on the seas.

The young man saw other young people too. He saw other young people walking through the mud in the light under the sea.

The young man approached another young man. He approached another young man and asked where he could eat an evening meal.

The other young man walked on through the mud under the sea as though he had not heard the young man.

The young man approached another young man. He approached another young man and asked where he could eat an evening meal.

The other young man walked on through the mud under the sea as though he had not heard the young man.

The young man walked on through the mud under the sea and wondered where he would eat his evening meal.

A young woman approached the young man and said the young man was new to the place under the sea where the young people walked through the mud, wasn’t he.

The young man said yes he was.

The young woman said he must be hungry and wanting his evening meal.

The young man said yes, he was both hungry and wanting his evening meal.

The young woman asked the young man if he would like to come to her place and eat his evening meal until he was no longer hungry.

The young man said yes he would like to eat with the young woman in her place.

The young woman took the young man to a cave in the rocks that rose above the mud at the bottom of the sea.

The young woman took the young man to her place in the cave in the rocks, and she fed him until he was no longer hungry.

The young man thanked the young woman for feeding him.

The young woman said it was her pleasure.

The young man asked the young woman what she did at the bottom of the sea.

The young woman said she lived at the bottom of the sea.

The young man asked what all the other young people he saw at the bottom of the sea did at the bottom of the sea.

The young woman said they too lived at the bottom of the sea.

The young man said yes, but what did they do.

The young woman asked the young man what he meant. She said they lived.

The young man asked what kind of activities did they do to occupy their time while they lived at the bottom of the sea. What kind of work did they do or what kind of studies did they do.

The young woman said she didn’t know what the young man was talking about.

The young man was silent for some time.

The young woman asked the young man what he did in the place where he lived. She said maybe if he told her what he did then she would know what kind of answer he was looking for.

The young man told the young woman what he did in the place where he lived.

The young woman said she was sorry but she didn’t understand what any of it meant.

The young man asked the young woman if she had ever been out of the sea. He asked if she had been on land where he lived and where he did the things he did.

The young woman said yes, she had been there many times.

The young man asked the young woman what she did when she visited the land above the sea.

She told him she visited the land above the sea.

The young man asked the young woman if she would like to come with him to the land above the sea.

The young woman said no. She said she didn’t go very often and didn’t particularly like it when she did.

The young man said it was time he returned to the place where worked and rested and slept.

The young woman said he didn’t have to go so soon. She said she hoped she hadn’t offended him.

The young man said the young woman had not offended him and he wanted to thank her for her hospitality but it was time he returned to the place where he rested before his day of work the following day.

The young woman asked what work was.

The young man laughed and thanked the young woman again for her hospitality.

Then he left.

The young woman waved as the young man walked away through the mud at the bottom of the sea.

The young man returned the wave and wondered if he could find where she lived in the cave above the mud another time.

The young man walked and walked through the mud at the bottom of the sea until the bottom of the sea began to rise and the mud turned to sand and the water turned to air.

The young man took a deep breath of the sea air and exhaled a mouthful of saltwater. He found the place where he slept during the time he worked near the sea, and he fell into a deep sleep and rested well for work the following day.